Fermentation process



the prosecution of the Work for the Patented Jan. 14, 1930 UNITED ST TES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM L. OWEN, BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA, ASSIGNOB, BY IIYIIESZEI']? ASSIGN- MENTS TO THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES FERMENTATION PROCESS No Trawzlng.

Application filed December 21,.1927. Serial No. 241,734.

(GRANTED UNDER THE ACT OF MARCH 3, 1883, 22 STAT. 1., 625) This application is made under act of March 3, 1883, chapter 143 (22 Stat. 625) and the invention herein described and claimed may be used by the Government of the United States or any of its oflicers or emplo ees in overnment, or by any other person la] the United States, Without payment to me of any royalty thereon. I

My invention relates particularly to the employment of carbon produced from distillery slops to accelerate fermentation proc-- esses.

It has been known for some time that the addition of inert substances such as charcoal, paper or boneblack, tends to accelerate the rate of fermentation of sugar solutions by yeast. This has been attributed to various causes, viz, to the more rapid elimination of CO from the solution by the presence of the inert substance; to the maintenance of a better agitation of the fermenting liquid, result-. ing in a better suspension of the yeast cells and to the absorption of aldehydes, or toxic 5 substances. I have, however, used this princi ple on a practical basis, a process to make pos sible the fermentation of very concentratedi molasses Worts. By the use of 5% of vegetable carbons such as those used in the sugar industry, orjcharcoal, I have been able to ferment in the time usually required to ferment a Wort of 17 20 Brix, worts of to Brix. The procedure is as follows:

The yeast culture is propagated as under 35 ordinary conditions in an appropriate yeast apparatus. Whenthe Brix of the wort in the apparatus has been reduced by one-half,

the seed is then transferred to a'seed vat.

This vat, which contains 5% by volume of the 40 carbon, based on the volume'of wort to be fer mented in the main fermenters, receives sufficient of the yeast from the apparatus to thoroughly moisten this carbon. yeast is allowed to remain in contact with the absorbing substance for 30 minutes, after -Which time the vat is filled with freshly sterilizedwort, and the entire content allowed to ferment until the density is reduced to one-half of its original density. The entire contents of the vat is then transferred to the fermenter which is set up at 30-40 Brix. The fermentation will. be found to proceed rapidly and will be completed Within 72 hours, or even in less time. It is not necessary to separate off the carbon, but it is an advantage to carry the contents of the fermenter to the stills. After distilling off the alcohol, the slops which will be 20 Brix, are conveyed to evaporators and the remaining water evaporated ofl. The heavy concentrated slops are then conveyed to a suitable retort and burned to a carbon with air excluded. The, carbon is then finely divided in a pulp mill and leached with several volumes of boil'mg water, when it is filtered, dried andagain used in the process.

As this carbon contains from 70-80% ash, which is very'rich in potash and phosphoric acid, it can be very readily converted into a fertilizer by ashing it after it has become too rich in ash to Warrant its further use as an accelerant of fermentation.

I claim:

A fermentation process which comprises the propagation of yeast culture, the Brix of the wort being reduced 50%, the transfer -of the seed to a seed vat that contains 5% density, the subsequent transfer of the con-' tents of the seed vat to a ferm'enter which is operated at 30-40 Brix until fermentation is complete.

WILLIAM L. OWEN.

The seed 

